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One tank 2 tank, small tank big tank

Im coming very close to the end of my new build. To start heres the tank i have now, the "small tank" (comparitivly speaking) a non RR 46 gallon bowfront:
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its a mixed reef that i plan on transfering everything in it now over to the next one.
the tank now
Fish:-2 clowns, one black and one orange misbar
-orange spotted goby paired
yellow headed sleeper goby (MIA)
4" powder blue tang that came out of QT about a week ago and has been swimming about awaiting the larger tank.
Inverts:
cerith snails
nerite snails
nassarious snails
stomatalla snails
sea cucumber
RBTA
Corals:
Pink Birdsnest
Ponape Birdsnest
Orange Cap, Idaho Grape Cap, Green encrusting cap
green pocillapora
xenia
clove polyps
2 color variations of green star polyps and pink star polyps
frogspawn
orange crush acan
neon green eye favia
red, purple, green mushrooms
hairy mushroom
a few different zoanthids and palythoas inlcuding purple deaths and nuclear greens
cyanarina or scolymia
kenya tree
finger leather
toadstool leather
and its possible a few im forgeting

Theres about 60lbs of live sand, 100lbs of live rock. A Hydor K4 and K2 supply my flow along with a mag 9.5 return from my sump. My sump was home made from a 40 breeder. Im using a MRC MR2 protein skimmer that is being fed with a mag 24. i connected to reactors for carbon and phos. I knew setting up this tank i was already do for an upgrade so i decided to go big from the gate. Having a 40 gallon sump on a 46 gallon tank for the time it has been has been awesome. I am running four 48'' icecap T5s that stick out alittle off the tank now. Again i knew i was upgrading while i was setting this tank up so its going to work perfect.


heres the scolymia or cynarina that mike m was kind enough to donate to me. however it was in poor shape with its skeleton exposed.
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ive been feeding it from time to time. silversides, sometimes a squirt of brine, rods .. here it is today.
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heres the sump
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skimmer
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so before the build i had moisture issues in my room and alittle mold started to grow. i think its from the house being old and the outer walls get cold and with the warmth of inside the moisture was condensing on the wall basically keeping them wet. so i scrubbed all the mold off with a mild bleach solution only to find out that the paint started chipping. after a whole room of this


it got sanded and alittle prep work and primed to look like this:
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i may be crazy but it was time for a different look, it ended up being this :eek:
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.. it went from earth tones to that, lol.
 
with all that finally done with i was able to focus on the tank.
its a weird one, 80 something odd gallons. i want to say 87 and its 5 feet long, 18 wide and 21 high. when you calculate that it equals 98.1 gallons but thats without subtracting the 1/2 inch thick glass. yes, 1/2 inch thick glass.
here it is sitting empty
85galoverview.jpg


i have to thank my father (redfishbluefish) even though i funded the entire thing this wouldnt of happened without his help, support and interest in my hobby. thanks dad! ;D
i got the tank without an overflow so i ended up ordering an overflow kit from www.glass-holes.com so the next step was drilling the tank.
template
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drilling
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drilling
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...take a picture of a bird while we wait...
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hey, one side down!
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two 1 1/2 holes
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building a stand
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its made of 2x4s with two 2x6s following this model from reef central
Stand1.jpg

adding some skin
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the left side will be sump, the right side storage
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this is the far right side, going to be a door for storage
the plan is to paint the tank so i filled all the cracks, seams, screws, holes with wood putty for a smooth clean look
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then some of the harder to get to/wider spaces got a shot of paintable silicone
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Nice build. I must say that you did a good job bringing back the scolymia. How is the skimmer working for you?
 
WOW, very, very nice! Love all the detailed pictures, too.

Gotta say one thing: The color of the room is identical to the color of my first car (way back when in Germany....it was a Renault 4). ;D
 
ricwilli said:
Nice build. I must say that you did a good job bringing back the scolymia. How is the skimmer working for you?

thank you, i first got it in like nov. - dec. and its now starting to look more fleshy months later.

i must say, with a 46 display and 40 sump we will say i have about 60 gallons of water volume with what the live rock displaces. running an MR2 has been awesome and on about a 100-110 volume system it will still be way more then enough, thanks again!
 
JerseyWendy said:
WOW, very, very nice! Love all the detailed pictures, too.

Gotta say one thing: The color of the room is identical to the color of my first car (way back when in Germany....it was a Renault 4). ;D

green pepper green :D

however when its all said and done its prob. going to look pretty good. one wall will basically be taken up by the tank, ill prob. put up 1 or 2 posters, i have a shelving unit im going to paint and mount to the wall....
 
Coming along very well.And the new color of the room...very "nuclear"..lol gd luck with the build,I will tag along to watch the progress :)
 
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